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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has viewed the Coordination Centre of the Russian Federation Government, Azertag reported on February 22.

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin welcomed President Ilham Aliyev.

Then they posed for photos.

President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin then had a meeting.

Welcoming President Ilham Aliyev, Mikhail Mishustin said: Dear Ilham Heydar oglu, please allow me to welcome you again. I propose to discuss the most important and strategic issues in the light of the “Declaration on Allied Interaction between Russia and Azerbaijan” signed by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and yourself today. This important decision raises our friendly and good neighborly relations to an even higher level. I would like to assure you that the Government of the Russian Federation will do everything necessary to implement the decisions of our leaders.

We sincerely value our friendship with our Azerbaijani partners. It is based on the strong ties between our fraternal peoples. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and the history of our good neighborliness is rooted in the mists of time. It is important that, despite the pandemic, our trade and economic cooperation is strengthening. You probably spoke about this in detail, the trade turnover has grown by 16 percent compared to 2020, reaching $3.3 billion. More than a thousand companies with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan. A very large number of joint projects are being implemented in the field of energy, engineering, transport. There is great potential for such operations in the field of agriculture, infrastructure, renewable energy and the digital economy. Our intergovernmental commission is actively addressing these tasks. On behalf of the Russian Federation, it is supervised by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Logvinovich Overchuk. Regular business missions of Russian companies to Azerbaijan also give positive results. We would like to continue these contacts and visits organized by the Russian Export Center. We also attach great importance to our interregional relations. More than 70 subjects of the Russian Federation cooperate with Azerbaijan.

We are jointly fighting the coronavirus infection and provide mutual assistance to each other. From our side, special test systems have been handed over to Azerbaijan. Teams of our best doctors were sent to Azerbaijan. Today, about 220,000 doses of the “Sputnik V” vaccine have been delivered to your country. I am convinced that mass immunization will help us, among other things, to cope with the pandemic and preserve the health of our people.

I would like to single out once again the important statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, which provides an opportunity for the development of the Caucasus region. I am convinced that the unblocking of economic and transport links and the creation of new infrastructure routes are in the interests of all the states of the South Caucasus. We have an extensive agenda. Thank you. We are glad that you have come to visit us at the Coordination Center of the Government of the Russian Federation. Of course, we are ready to discuss all topical issues of our cooperation. Please, you have the floor, dear Ilham Heydar oglu.

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President Ilham Aliyev said: Thank you very much, dear Mikhail Vladimirovich. Thank you for the kind words. You quite rightly noted that the Declaration on Allied Interaction was signed today. This is a new stage in the development of our relations. Today, Vladimir Vladimirovich and I talked for a very long time, discussing a number of important topics of both bilateral cooperation and regional issues. Of course, in our statement for the press we noted the importance of this day, which will go down in the history of interstate relations between our countries. Of course, it is symbolic that this is happening on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Among other issues, we also considered in detail the issues of trade and economic cooperation, expressed satisfaction with the way our relations are developing, and I would like to thank you for the personal attention you have been paying to the development of trade and economic ties between our countries. The growth in trade turnover is significant, taking into account the pandemic situation, of course, and an indicator of how efficiently we are working. I would also like to note the effective work of the intergovernmental commission headed by the vice-premiers of our countries, as it promptly resolves issues that arise at customs checkpoints and is also engaged in strategic planning of our trade and economic ties. It is very pleasant that the level of mutual trade is increasing. I think the potential is even greater. I do hope that we will also note the growth in trade with satisfaction this year.

It is beyond doubt that the issues related to regional issues, taking into account the new realities in the region, create good prerequisites not only for strengthening confidence-building measures, peace and security in the region, but also for mutually beneficial economic partnership in a bilateral and multilateral format. Today, at a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation, we also discussed the prospects for a new format of cooperation “3+3”, which primarily involves active work on transport and communication issues, logistical issues at this stage, and I am sure that today's discussions and the exchange of views we will have will serve the cause of the implementation of all provisions of the tripartite Statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia of November 2020 so that we can fully implement our plans.

Russian-Azerbaijani relations are time-tested. We have, of course, been developing our ties ever since establishing diplomatic relations. But, of course, without the foundation that was laid by previous generations, we probably would not have been able to achieve these successes. And today's signing of the Declaration on Allied Interaction is a special document in the portfolio of our legal framework. I am confident that it will serve the cause of strengthening friendly, good-neighborly and, starting today, allied relations between our countries.

I would like to specifically thank the Russian side for its help in the fight against the coronavirus. We are very grateful that a team of specialists was sent to Azerbaijan. We have received PCR tests and certified the “Sputnik V” vaccine, as you may know. We expect to continue to work in this direction in order to protect the health of our citizens.

Thank you again for this opportunity to exchange views. Thank you for a very interesting presentation about the Coordination Center, and now we will discuss specific issues arising from the general guidelines. Thank you.

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